Former members join the chorus calling to end congressional stock trading

A group of former members of Congress wants action before the end of this session on legislation barring lawmakers from owning or trading individual stocks.

The former lawmakers, organized by Issue One, a Washington-based political reform group, on Monday sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., calling for a floor vote on a proposal that advanced out of committee in July. Specifically, the group calls for the legislation to be tacked on to any “must pass” package Congress will take up in the waning days of the 118th Congress.

“Members of Congress are public servants. We want to uphold public service and we want to be more aspirational in what that means,” said Zach Wamp, a Tennessee Republican who served in the House from 1995 to 2011. “So disconnect yourself from any appearance of wrongdoing. And this has the appearance of wrongdoing.”

Wamp is one of more than 40 former members and officials who signed the letter. Schumer and McConnell did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The issue picked up intensity in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a series of questionable trades by lawmakers who’d been briefed on the global health emergency drew the attention of the public and federal regulators.

Recent efforts to address such trading have fallen flat, but the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s vote to advance a measure gave new hope to those who support stricter rules.

Tim Roemer, an Indiana Democrat who spent more than a decade in the House in the 1990s and early 2000s, signed on in part because of a perception among voters that members of Congress are “out for themselves.”

“Disclosure and transparency of stocks is simply not enough,” said Roemer, who was the U.S. ambassador to India after leaving Congress. “Insider knowledge, too often, is translated into insider benefit. And public service is not about private profit.”

Federal law already prohibits members from trading on nonpublic information and mandates the public disclosure of assets. But critics argue that the 2012 law lacks teeth. Its punishments are trivial — if applied at all — and members of Congress have continued to participate in the stock market in large numbers. More than half of all representatives and senators owned stocks in the 117th Congress, according to a Campaign Legal Center analysis.

The bipartisan proposal advanced out of committee this summer would significantly tighten existing rules.

Built on a bill led by Sen. Jeff Merkley, dubbed the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, it was a product of compromise between the Oregon Democrat and Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Gary Peters, D-Mich.

“We have momentum on our side to pass the ETHICS Act,” Merkley said in a statement Monday. “And the support of former members provides added fuel. They see the corrupt impact of stock trading, and I appreciate their support and advocacy.”

The legislation as amended would ban members of Congress, as well as the president and vice president, from buying and selling securities, commodities, futures, options, trusts and other comparable holdings. It would require divestiture from all covered assets and impose harsh penalties on members who fail to divest.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who is one of the wealthiest senators and isn’t seeking reelection, said the bill was too harsh and could disincentive qualified candidates to run for office. Roemer — who remembered owning stocks in individual companies while in Congress, but said none exceeded $1,000 in value — didn’t entirely disagree.

Roemer, like Romney, called the bill punitive. But he said he didn’t have concerns that it would turn away prospective public servants.

“I do think that once, hopefully, we pass this, that there might be some ways to learn from what’s happening in Congress and how it’s cleaned things up and to amend it later on,” Roemer said. “But we have to start with something, and I think this is the right place to start, given how far the pendulum has swung … and the American people’s eroding trust in institutions.”

Wamp referred to a July 2023 survey conducted by the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy that found 87% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats favored a proposal to bar members from owning or trading stocks in individual companies (though the proposal polled included a provision allowing qualified blind trusts).

“Very, very rarely does any issue ever poll at 87% and 88% support among Democrats and Republicans,” Wamp said. “This is one of those things that could be done simply, quickly and help the Congress help themselves.”

_____